We continue with our mini-study of the three main societal philosophies that exist in every nation in the world today.
They are…
1) Guilt and Innocence
2) Power and Fear
3) Shame and Honor
So, we’ve now arrived at the philosophy that baffles Westerners more than any other:
Shame and Honor
This one is a bit more difficult to explain than others.
While shame-and-honor-based societies hold to ideas of right and wrong, they are not absolute.
In the West, shame simply comes down to feeling guilty for wrongs committed.
I stole some money from my father’s wallet, and now I feel bad about it.
I unfairly yelled at my sister for something, and now I feel terrible about my behavior.
I momentarily experience a loss of self-esteem in those moments.
We also feel shame when the people we trust violate us.
For example, a young lady will feel shame because her father sexually abused her when she was a child.
She’s afraid to tell anyone about what happened, especially a potential long-term partner, because she is ashamed.
She’s afraid she won’t be accepted
These are examples of what I am NOT talking about in this context.
When I speak of shame and honor as it exists in the Middle East and other oriental societies, I’m talking about something totally different.
Let me explain.
A society based on shame and honor prioritizes acting HONORABLY above everything else.
This includes things like respecting your parents and elders, protecting your family’s reputation, and keeping your word or fulfilling obligations.
Again, this has nothing to do with right and wrong.
You may disagree with your parents about something, and you may be in the right.
But in a shame-and-honor-based society, challenging them, especially out in the open, would be considered dishonorable.
Maintaining honor is far more important than doing right or wrong.
This is an important distinction.
So lemme say it again.
In these types of societies, behaving honorably is far more important than behaving rightly.
In America, if you fall into severe credit card debt, no biggie.
You file bankruptcy, problem solved.
Heck, I’ve done it once in my life.
However, things are not so easy in a shame-and-honor-based society, even if legal loopholes exist.
Why?
Because in such a society, even if the debt-ridden person could solve his problem through a proper and legal bankruptcy, he is very reluctant to do so.
Why?
Because of the shame he feels in not having acted honorably with regard to his legal obligations.
Ya feel me here?
Again, it may not seem like a big deal to us.
But in these types of societies, your status is primarily based on being in a condition of shame or honor.
Here’s another thing to consider in a shame-and-honor-based society, especially as it exists in the Middle East.
In these cultures, if a person is shamed…
He will do anything…
And I mean ANYTHING to restore it.
A common example we often hear about in the Middle East is a father killing his daughter for “crimes” such as marrying an infidel or converting to Christianity.
Why does he kill his daughter?
Because her infidel marriage or conversion has shamed his family, and he now has to restore honor.
Of course, the father will be grief-stricken over having to kill his daughter…
But he does not feel like he is doing anything wrong.
In his mind, he is not committing murder.
Can you see right here how their values conflict with our values in the West?
In these societies, a person would rather lie than tell the truth if it will preserve honor.
Right and wrong in these societies are based on cultural norms, not objective truths established by an Almighty and powerful God.
Right and wrong are relative under this framework.
Interestingly, in these societies, sometimes a person will do something that even the government will deem illegal.
But that still isn’t a matter of right and wrong in their eyes.
Because again, the person has to do whatever he can to restore honor.
Heck, paying the legal price (settling the fine or serving the time) is seen as a badge of honor in these societies.
The person may even be viewed as a hero because of the bold action he took to get rid of his shame and restore honor.
Hamas terrorists in Israeli prisons are lauded as heroes by their fellow countrymen.
Pretty scary, isn’t it?
Especially when you consider that we are dealing with countries whose entire national understanding is based on this concept.
On top of that, time is irrelevant when it comes to restoring honor.
A nation or culture that believes it has been shamed by another will strategically plan for generations to do anything to avenge that shame.
Or on a smaller level, if a man who has been dishonored dies, he expects his son to step in and avenge him long after he has gone.
Again, why?
Because honor at all costs is the operative principle at play here.
So I hope this gives you some clarity in terms of understanding what we’re up against in the Muslim world.
In these societies, shame is handled by killing the person who shames you.
In their minds, that’s the only way to restore honor.
The foundational framework in the country I’m living in now, Japan, is also based on shame and honor.
There’s a famous scene in the movie The Last Samurai where a fellow warrior is involved in a serious breach of conduct.
The situation involves a dishonorable act and the samurai’s failure to maintain the standards expected of him.
The head samurai, Katsumoto, orders the man to commit seppuku (ritual suicide).
This was the means to restore honor after a serious disgrace.
The man proceeds with the ritual, and Katsumoto acts as his kaishakunin (the appointed second who delivers the death blow), by decapitation, to end the suffering.
Nathan Algren, Tom Cruise’s character, is horrified by what he witnesses.
Why?
It goes back to what I’ve been talking about.
Algren views the killing through a totally different moral framework.
From his Western perspective, beheading a man who has already accepted responsibility for his actions is barbaric and unnecessary.
Katsumoto, on the other hand, sees it as an honorable way to resolve the disgrace.
But here’s the crucial detail that makes this scene especially relevant to our discussion.
The man being beheaded is NOT being punished by Katsumoto.
He has requested Katsumoto’s assistance in ending his life.
Hasegawa is a former samurai who has suffered military defeat.
Rather than live with the shame of that defeat, he chooses seppuku (ritual disembowelment).
Katsumoto then explains his actions to Algren:
“General Hasegawa asked me to help him end his life.
A samurai cannot stand the shame of defeat.
I was honored to cut off his head.“
Algren’s objection is essentially that a defeated, kneeling man should not be killed.
But Katsumoto sees things differently.
Hasegawa has made a choice to die rather than live in disgrace.
Katsumoto considers it an honor to assist him.
This is the key cultural collision.
The takeaway for today is clear.
If you really wanna understand somebody who comes from another country…
And if you really wanna understand certain scenes in Scripture…
You’ve gotta understand the underlying value system that undergirds their actions.
From Algren’s perspective, Hasegawa has lost a battle.
That’s unfortunate.
But it doesn’t make him a lesser human being.
Nor does it mean he deserves to die.
From Hasegawa’s perspective, his defeat has brought shame upon his identity as a samurai.
His concern isn’t simply that he lost.
It’s that he must now live with the social disgrace associated with that loss.
So he chooses death as a means of escaping that disgrace.
Bottom line, in a shame-and-honor framework, restoring honor takes precedence over the preservation of human life.
There’s another interesting dimension to that scene.
Katsumoto doesn’t consider Hasegawa’s death an act of barbarism.
He considers refusing to help him die honorably potentially dishonorable.
In other words, the same action that horrifies Algren represents an honorable obligation to Katsumoto.
Alrighty, this is getting way too long.
The takeaway is to understand that in a shame-and-honor framework, death is NOT the ultimate tragedy.
It’s an acceptable price to pay to escape disgrace and recover honor.
That’s what we’re dealing with in the Muslim world with suicide bombers and terrorist attacks, including 9/11.
George Bush will stand in front of the American people and call the terrorists barbaric murderers.
And I would agree with him 100%.
But understand that in the Muslim world, celebrations were being held over what happened, and the terrorists were lauded as heroes.
Why?
Because what they did restored honor from their perspective.
So this should give you some clarity in terms of what we’re up against in the Middle East.
The Muslim world feels like they have been shamed by the Great Satan (America) and the Little Satan (Israel).
And they have to do anything, at all costs, to restore honor.
Understanding this shame-and-honor framework will also help you understand why certain characters in the Bible behave the way they do.
Don’t try to interpret things through a Western guilt-and-innocence framework.
Otherwise, a lot of stuff will fly totally over your head.
Alrighty, to close, you should now be in a much better position to understand Hadad.
And why he couldn’t just let bygones be bygones concerning Israel.
When King David destroyed his family and his homeland, it was an act of honor being violated.
And that honor had to be restored no matter how long it took.
We’ll pick this up the next time we meet.
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